


Freefalling

by chasing_the_sterek



Series: Snow-Filled Footsteps [1]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Adrenaline Junkie, Fluff, Flying, Gen, Jack Flying, Jack Is An Adrenaline Junkie, adrenaline rush, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-08 12:55:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5497766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasing_the_sterek/pseuds/chasing_the_sterek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The air up above the clouds (no, further up than that) feels cleaner, fresher, and there aren't exactly very many people up there. Jack enjoys it, even though there isn't enough wind to keep him up there for long enough for him to actually <i>see</i> the view.</p><p>But that's no problem, because the lack of wind leads him neatly into something else he enjoys: the fall.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Freefalling

**Author's Note:**

> I'm remodeling. Sue me.
> 
> Hope you enjoy the story though, you guys ;)

Jack whooped as he let the wind carry him above the cloud line (or where it would be had there been any clouds), spiralling and corkscrewing upwards win increasing speed: as fast as North's sleigh, faster, faster.

Manny, he loved days like this.

When the snow had been spread satisfactorily, and he had more than half the day off. When there weren't any clouds to conceal things or rough, uncontrollable winds to blow him off-course. When everything was relaxed, and he could do this as many times as he wanted.

He whooped again, hearing the sound rip past him. Watching North's workshop gradually get smaller until it looked like one of his toys, then smaller and smaller until it was just a black speck and he could begin to see the gentle curve of the earth, then smaller still until he couldn't see the building anymore.

Jack stopped there, at the height where no planes could go, at the height where even North in his sleigh dared not reach. He could see the stars (despite it being the middle of the day down on the ground) and he could knew from experience that he was hovering around what Jamie's teachers called the "ozone layer". The air was extremely thin - so thin Jack could barely breathe - but that was part of what he liked. He loved the breathlessness, the gasp when he reached lower altitudes, the way everything was so silent he could hear his heart beating and his nerves crackling and his lungs moving. He grinned, grasping his staff tightly before straightening himself until he could see the white splodge that was the North Pole, and where he hoped North's workshop was.

He tilted himself until he was completely vertical, upside down, face turned to the earth.

He squeezed his shepherd's crook -

\- and threw it like a javelin towards the ground.

Immediately he felt the straggles of wind that had managed to follow him up here sigh and stop fussing over him.

He began to fall, steadily gaining speed until he had almost caught up with his staff.

Even though he was keeping his arms fairly loose, he grinned at the telltale boom that signified the broken sound barrier, letting a scream of adrenaline and joy escape his mouth.

His eyes were lit up with excitement, he knew - he could feel them glittering - and his face sported a manically wide grin.

He yelled out again, whooping and laughing. Nobody could hear him anyway - even if he was in earshot of the ground, everyone currently at the North Pole was inside and the walls of Santa's workshop were practically soundproof.

Jack glanced to the side, making sure that his staff was still there (it was, but beginning to lag behind now, the affects of Jack's throw wearing off) before grabbing it and chucking it downwards in a similar manner to before.

He tucked his arms into his sides, further increasing the speed of his descent.

The sound barrier exploded again, earning another whoop from the spirit.

Jack could just about see the windows in Santoff Clausen now, North's workshop growing steadily larger with each passing second.

"Yeah!" He let himself holler.

Santa's residence was as big as his hand, bigger, as big as his head, bigger, as big than him, and then bigger.

The spirit of winter cheered and twisted, somersaulting and twirling but never slowing down.

He could feel the wind racing him - she loved this just as much as he did - but she kept steadying his flight path despite multiple previous occasions when she'd accidentally blown him off-course (now that had been a Thursday to remember).

The gap between Jack and the ground was growing smaller with each passing second.

Grinning, Jack snatched his staff when he was only ten metres from the ground, putting both feet on the metaphorical brakes and air-skidding to a halt with his face a mere handful of inches from the snow drift he'd created earlier.

The winter spirit burst out laughing, breathlessly collapsing into the snow drift and letting his staff roll gently out of his hand while he gulped for air between giggles. He felt the adrenaline pumping through his body, and decided to himself (and not for the first time) that freefalling from over a hundred thousand feet was way better than any fairground, theme park or carnival ride any part of the world could offer.

"Crikey, Snowflake, tha' stunt looks worse th'n North's deathtrap o' a vehicle." A voice said. "Dunno why yer laughin'."

Jack's eyes shot open. He scrambled to his feet. Bunny wasn't supposed to be here. Bunny was meant to be in his Warren, painting eggs. Bunny should have been out researching new egg designs. Bunny wasn't supposed to be here.

The wind lifted his staff up for hm and Jack took it without looking, too busy staring at Bunny and wondering when he'd arrived and how much he'd seen to notice the Pooka's surprised blink when his staff levitated into his hand for no apparent reason.

"How long have you been here?" Jack blurted.

"Why'd yer stick float inta yer 'and like tha'?" Bunny exclaimed at the same time.

"Ye first." Bunny said after another moment of staring.

"How long have you been here?" Jack repeated.

Bunny blinked, then smirked. "I've been 'ere the 'hole time, mate. Didja really not no'ice me all this time?"

Jack sighed. "No, I mean how much did you see? Of my freefall?"

Bunny's smirk slowly faded as he thought. "Dunno, Frostbite." He said after a while. "I saw ye flyin' up inta th' sky, so I stayed fer a bit." Bunny, who seemed satisfied with how much he'd told Jack (no need to tell the annoying icicle that E. Aster Bunnymund had been worried about him - not that he had, of course), gave the spirit a pointed look. "Now, why'd yer stick float inta yer 'and like tha'?"

"That was the wind." Jack said in a tone of voice that declared that he thought the answer was blindingly obvious. "She does that kinda thing every once in a while."

"Th' wind?" Bunny blinked again, confused. Also - the wind was a girl?!

Jack watched him with wary eyes. "Yeah." He answered slowly. "She carries me around. And she's annoying sometimes -"

A gust of wind shoved Jack's shoulder backwards, and Jack grinned.

Bunny's mouth dropped open.

"Strewth." The Pooka muttered after a heartbeat of silence. "Get inside, Frostbite, yer explaining somewhere warmer."

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry about the turning-everything-into-a-series thing. It's easier to handle fics this way.
> 
> Hope you liked it (kudos to you for clicking on it and reading it all the way through, though, dude)!
> 
>  
> 
> By the way, [this is my tumblr if you want it.](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/total-master-of-geekiness)


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